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For the past four years, Tom Girardi’s daily life has been organized around his diagnosis of dementia.
At a high-class support facility in Seal Beach, members of the nursing staff, 24 hours apart, bathe, dress him, take him to the bathroom, make sure he eats, prevent him from wandering, remind him where he is and why he is and again and again.
On Thursday, Girardi’s condition will change from patient to inmate. The 86-year-old controversial trial lawyer, a legal legend that once stood in the California judicial system, has now become 43156-510, one of more than 150,000 people who have been imprisoned by the federal government.
It is unclear how the prison system will handle Girardi’s cognitive issues during the seven-year sentence to steal from clients. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has six medical centers that care for sick prisoners, in addition to regular prisons and minimal security camps. One of Massachusetts operates a small overload dementia unit.
The process of assessing new inmates with mental or physical illnesses and choosing the right location can take weeks or months, and the agency said it cannot comment on where Girardi will go.
A forensic psychologist at the BOP testified at a hearing in June. Meanwhile, a federal judge in Los Angeles heard evidence on whether Girardi should be sentenced to prison or appropriate medical facilities, and how prisons can safely house people with dementia by giving “inmates” and leading the day.
“The Bureau of Prisons creates accommodation for individuals who are aging and have serious medical problems,” said Brianna Glover, who works at the Prison Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina.
Pressing whether Girardi will live with violent, young criminals or in a “specific cell with bunk beds,” Glover said there is a possibility.
Girardi will leave the federal court in August and resign from Natalie Degrati, an investigator for the federal government’s Defense Agency.
(Brian van der Bragg/Los Angeles Times)
Girardi’s lawyers repeatedly predict the worst.
“I’ve never seen a case where someone thought they’d have had good mental health care,” J said in prison. Alejandro Barientos, who was part of the team that represented Girardi at the trial, told The Times. He added: “If you’re an older person and you’re in prison, that’s not tough for a much younger person, and I think it’s a bit harsh.”
Until he was sentenced last month, Girardi’s defense team had pleaded with judges to serve his sentence at the Orange County nursing home where he spent the past four years. The incarceration they alleged was a de facto death sentence given his age and health, and his short-term lack of memory meant he didn’t understand why he was behind the bar.
“For Tom Girardi, there is no meaningful punishment,” federal government official defense attorney Samuel Cross said at the sentencing hearing.
The judge refused to discuss the matter after reviewing reports from Glover and BOP neuropsychologists.
“They determined he still has baseline capabilities to function on a daily basis. He now retains his independence in regards to his daily activities,” Judge Josephine L. Staton said in June that he determined the prison was a proper punishment scene from a Los Angeles bench.
State and federal prisons are increasingly facing dementia among inmates. The prison population is greyed due to long sentences from past severe crime initiatives. According to population data published by the Department of Justice, more than one in 50 federal prisoners are over 50 years old. The number of prisoners suffering from dementia is difficult to determine because there is little research into inmates or specific data.
California has launched memory care work at two correctional facilities, including a 30-bed unit at Stockton’s prison hospital and a 35-bed unit at Vacaville. Federal BOP launched a 36-bed “Memory Disorder Unit” in 2019 at the Prison Medical Center in Devens, Massachusetts.
Prior to Girardi, former LA County Sheriff Revaca, another dishonest person in the Southern California Power Circle, cited concerns about the dementia care behind the bar as he tried to avoid prison. BACA was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2016 and was later sentenced to three years in prison for obstructing justice and lying to FBI agents. BACA’s lawyers suggested that the decline of his cognitive function was a sentence of its own, but the judge who was the main side of his case refused to argue.
“What’s as bad as Alzheimer’s is, it’s not a criminal penalty,” US District Judge Percy Anderson told BACA in his ruling, adding, “Alzheimer’s is not an invading card.”
Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baka, Center, 2017, is standing with his wife and attorneys, including his current LA County county. Atty. Nathan Hochman.
(Damian Dovarganes/Applications)
The extent of Girardi’s cognitive decline has been the subject of the conflict since 2020, when his company collapsed amid allegations of misappropriated funds. As the client was asking for money, Girardi’s brother placed him in a sanctuary and cited the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease from a psychiatrist in Long Beach as evidence.
A California bar, who was chasing Girardi’s legal licence, quickly questioned the diagnosis, suggesting possible cheating. Dementia experts held by the government admitted that he had undergone some cognitive decline, but found evidence that he exaggerated his symptoms.
Staton, who presided over his trial, accepted the view that Girardi not only suffers from dementia, but also has malicious intentions. She felt he had the ability to stand trial.
After his conviction in August, Girardi was sent to Butner Prison Hospital for six weeks of observation. Tracy O’Connor Penne, a neuropsychologist in the federal prison system, determined that he had no malicious intentions and contributed to the report that concluded that Girardi had “moderately advanced dementia” with “some features of Alzheimer’s disease.”
“His remote memory, or his long-term memory, was pretty unharmed. It was recent information that he had difficulty,” Pennuto testified at a June hearing that evidence of fitness to the prison had been presented to the judge.
That dynamic was on display when Girardi was called to the witness stand as part of a hearing last month. He only left his nursing home to attend court, but he vowed that he had crossed the country.
“The International Academy held a meeting in New York, and then I filed a lawsuit in Oklahoma,” he testified.
On the witness stand, Girardi claimed he lived in Pasadena, the site of a former mansion sold to pay creditors in 2022. When he returned to his seat at the defense table, his pants began to fall. When his lawyer tried to make an official record of a wardrobe malfunction, judge Staton said Girardi “recognized that was happening, he reached out and pulled it up and kept it.”
In the Seal Beach Dementia Ward, Girardi sat alone at a table scribbled “hundreds of pages of incomprehensible notes” on the pad for most days, his brother, Robert, wrote to the judge. He added that Girardi believes he is still practicing as a lawyer.
Robert Girardi has been covering the costs of nursing home care for his brother since 2021, according to his letter. If Girardi is sent to a prison hospital facility, the estimated cost to taxpayers would be at least $102,857 a year, according to government figures for 2022.
BOP officials discussed sending Girardi to the agency’s Massachusetts dementia unit. According to published reports, there is a side of a nursing home memory care ward with pink walls, festive decorations, music therapy, art classes and bocce balls. Other inmates act as caretakers for the unit’s residents.
The facility has been criticized recently. Government audits discovered a serious staffing shortage, resulting in inadequate medical care. At the time of the audit, only 16 of the 36 beds were filled. Some violent inmates without dementia, among those in dementia units, pose a “safety risk” to other inmates and prison staff, the report found.
Girardi can also be sent to a regular prison, just like the idiots did. Former sheriff’s lawyer, Benjamin Coleman, recalled that at Texas prison, the idiots made basic tasks difficult, such as filling out forms for their wives and others to visit.
“He was lucky that other prisoners helped him with things,” Coleman said. “If that was up to him, he wouldn’t normally be able to do that.”
Another option for Girardi is a prison medical center in Texas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Massachusetts, or North Carolina. During his month and a half stay at Batner Medical Center, Girardi sometimes had difficulty finding a way back to his bed. Every cell there has been an outside posting of the prisoner’s names and photos, but staff had to take additional steps to enlarge Girardi’s photos.
While at Butner’s facility, Girardi also refused to leave his cells for several hours at a time, or to leave for regular personnel, prison psychologist Glover testified that he occasionally threatened staff in lawsuits.
Even with medical care, Girardi’s prognosis is poor, testified, Butner’s neuropsychologist Pennuto.
“He won’t improve,” Penitto said. “He will continue to fade over time.”
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